Sheet collating mechanism



4 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 17, 1951 T. E. PHYTHIAN SHEET COLLATING MECHANISM Filed May s, 1946 w vi-@ n m July 17, 1951 T- E. PHYTH IAN 2,561,070

SHEET, COLLATING MECHANISM Filed May 8, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 F/G a.

FIGS.

July 17, 1951 T. E. PHYTHIAN SHEET COLLATING MECHANISM 4 Shee'ts-Shee t 5 Filed May 8, 1946 T. E. PHYTHIAN SHEET COLLATING MECHANISM July 17, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 8, 1946 Patented July 17, 1951 SHEET COLLATING MECHANISM Thomas Ewart Phythian, Headingly, England, assignor to R. W. Crabtree & Sons Limited, Leeds, England, a company of Great Britain Application May 8, 1946, Serial No. 668,147 In Great Britain May 11, 1945 6 Claims.

This invention relates tomechanism for use in collating the signatures of a printing machine; the invention is more especially concerned with the collation of signatures which consist of a series requiring to be arranged in a definite sequence.

The signaturesaredelivered in a stream which is a plurality of signatures wide and proposals have been made to deposit these signatures in a sequence on belts or in boxes travelling across the delivery stream and by which they are carried forward to an operator, the signatures being collated in the, operation.

The main object of this invention is to provide a collating mechanism by which the signatures of different sizes'can be dealt with for automatic collation in the correct sequence.

According to the present invention there is provided in combination with mechanism for delivering in side by side relationship, signatures of a size which can be varied, a collating mechanism including an endless conveyor which is mounted for movement across the line of delivery of the signaturesand which comprises a series of receptacles for receiving the signatures, means for adjusting the pitch of the receptacles. and means to advance the conveyor intermittently in step with the delivery of signatures, the said advancing means being adjustable to said different sizes of signatures.

The arrangement thus is such that it can beset to handle signatures of different sizes, the adjustments permitting the receptacles to receive signatures of diflerent sizes in the desired sequence as they move across the delivery line of the signatures until, when the receptacles move clear of the delivery line, they have each accumulated the different signatures-inthe required sequence.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, Fig. 2 an end elevation and Figure 3 a detail view to a larger scale of part of .the mechanism shown in Figure 1. Figures land 5 are respectively side elevation and plan of a modified arrangement and Figures 6 and '7 are respectively side and end elevation of a further modification.

.Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 2 and illustrating the mechanism of this invention disposed for cooperation with a packer-box type of delivery.

Referring firstly to Figures 1-3, the references W indicate the location of the paths followed by. a stream of signatures, the stream being in the particular case shown eight signatures wide, and these signatures being stripped from a delivery cylinder I of an all-size printing machine by strippers 3 cooperating with guides 2, the signatures being formed by longitudinally slitting a web or webs and then cross-severing the webs into signature lengths.

Arranged across the line of delivery of the signatures from the parts 2, 3 is an endless conveyor in the form of boxes 4 mounted on wheels 5 in turn mounted on endless guide rails 6 in the form of a flattened loop, the various boxes being linked together by links I.

These boxes 4 are moved forward intermittently, and are so spaced and the timing such that each box in turn comes to rest in line with a signature delivery to receive a signature and then moved forward to the next signature delivery line and so on until this box (and the other boxes in turn) has collated the requisite sequence of signatures.

For intermittently advancing the boxes, there is employed a constantly reciprocated slider 8 which is supported for movement by wheels 9 on a guide Ill and has a spring loaded pawl II which (when the slider 8 moves in the direction against the desired forwarding movement) clicks over the rear axles pin I2 which also connects the links I at one end and to that box 4 then in the zoneof the slider; this pawl I I then, when the slider 8 is reversed, shuts against the pin to advance that box and of course the remainder of the boxes. This slider 8 is caused to reciprocate by a connecting rod I3 pivoted at one end to the slider and at the other end to a pin I4 on a constantly rotated disc I5, the revolution of which coincides with the revolutions of the delivery cylinder for which purpose the disc I5 is mounted on a shaft I8 geared by gearing indicated generally at I! to the cylinder I.

For the purpose of adapting this mechanism to collate products of different widths, the pitch of the boxes 4 is adjustable to enable the boxes to register-with the various signatures of different widthsand the stroke of the intermittent forwarding-movement is arranged also to be adjusted to enable the movement of the boxes to be made greater for wider signatures and smaller for narrower signatures.

. The adjustment of the pitch of the boxes is effected by making the links I of adjustable effective length, the links being of the Vernier type or as shown having a series of holes I8 any one of which may be employed for pivotally coupling the boxes to enable the stroke of the slider 8 to be varied to suit the width of the signatures,

the pin M on the disc I is mounted for radial adjustment in a slot I8 in the disc to pick up the varying pitch of the boxes.

Provision is made to vary the length of the rails 6 to suit the total length of the series of boxes 4, this total length varying of course with the pitch to which the boxes are adjusted; this can be effected by forming the curved ends of the rails at one end I9 separately from the straight runs and providing the curved ends with a portion of the straight runs, the portions being connected to the main lengths of the straight runs through elongated slot connections which permit the end portion l9-to be adjusted. Provision would also be made to insert or remove boxes to or from the series.

The point at which the pawl ll picks-up the pin on the tray 4 is arranged for adjustment and this is effected by mounting the pawl for adjustment along a slot 2| extending lengthwise of the slider.

It will be seen that at any time when' the boxes are at rest, there will be a number of boxes in register respectively with one of the delivery lines across the width of the delivery ofthe signatures, the particular'signatures which'the boxes receive depending on their particular-position-across the width of the delivery. The boxes having been advanced below the delivery, then pass on to a take-oil" zone indicated at '22 and thereafter pass back along the return rails to the other side of the delivery and then around'the end of'the-rails to the upperrunin readiness to make a further collation and so on.

The "boxes- 4 themselves are "replaceable '--by boxes of'different sizes suited to the particular signatures to be handled andpreferabl the floors 23 of the boxes are inclined downwardly and rearwardly and to one edge and would have upstanding walls along only one edge.

Referring now to themod'ification shown in Figures 4. and 5; there is illustratedyan arrangement to prevent any over-run'of' the boxes and to. locate them positively in position. To effect this, the pawl II is replaced'by a driving dog 23 which is slotted to embrace the pin [2 and to have a rising and fallingmotion to engage and disengage from the pm at the. beginning and end respectively of the reciprocating movement of the slides 8;, in addition there is provided a locking dog 24 which has a similar rising andi'falling movement but is timed to move up to engage a pin I2 when the dog 23 moves down .to disengage from a pin l2. Thus,.when the dog 23 moves up to engage .and then advance a pin 12 .(and. hence the linkedboxes 4) the other dog disengages and frees the boxes and when. .the dog '23 is, .at the end of its forward stroke moved downto disengage for return movement, the 'lockingdog '24 moves up positively to hold the boxes fixed in the correct position.

To effect this the dog 23 is "carried from*the slide 8 through a sub-slide 25 itself slidable vertically on the slide '8: this sub-slide has-a pin 26 entering a slot 21 in' a control bar. 28: the

control bar iswpivotally supported by-arms29,

30 pivoted respectively at 3|, .32, theywhole forming .a parallelogram.

The arm 29 is fast with an operating .arm .33 which is pivoted at .its outer end at--34 .-to an operating bar 35 which has at its end a .cam follower 36 engaging a cam surfaoe3'i on the periphery .of the disc l5. The cam surface 3'! is so shaped anddisposed in relation to the pin 14 on the disc that as this pin passes its deadcentre position (at which time the slide 8 is substantially at rest in changing its direction) the cam operates to move the bar 35 to rock the arm 33; as a result the arm 29 is rocked and the sub-slide 25 moved up or down either to cause the dog 23 to engage a pin I2 or to disengage thedog.

In order to synchronise the timing of the operation of the locking dog 25 with the operation of the dog 23 the dog 25 is also mounted on a .slide .38 vslidable on a fixed bracket 39: to the slide 38 is pivoted at 40 one arm of an operating lever 4| pivoted at' 42 and also pivoted at 43 to the operatingbar"35; the pivot 42 forming an anchorage fora spring 43 which spring loads the whole systemaand holds the follower 36 up to :thecam 31.

It will be apparent that since the bar 28 forms part of a parallelogram, the slot 21 in its rising and falling motion, is at all times horizontal to provide for 'the sliding of the pin 26 through-it. The sub-slide"25=.andthe --S1ide -"38 are provided with slots-"44,45 along 'which the"dogs"23, 24 can be adjusted.

Reference will now bemade to 'the' modi-fication shown in Figures 6 and 7, the modification havingiorits' purpose to ensure that' thesignatures as they pass from the-guides-2, "3 to the boxes =4 shall lie flat in' the boxes or in other words to ensure that if the signatures openout in passing to the boxes they shall be closed back before the next signature passes on top ofit.

For this purpose there are provided fingers 44 which are advanced over the upper surface of a signature delivered to the-box so as-to-turn back anyraised-up portion of the signatureyreversing them while-the next signature is delivered and then being-withdrawn in theplaceof the signatures.

The fingers 44 are carried by blocks 45 mountedon the shaft 46 heldat the lower end of swinging arms 41 screwed to a rock shaft 48. This shaft 48 v has an arm- 48 controlled by a cam 49 rotatable with a cylinder 5|] cooperating in any unusual mannerwit-h the cylinder I to form signatures consisting of acollected or an uncollected product. This cam imparts a swinging movement to the arms 41 and this in turn causes the fingers 44 to be advanced with 'and retracted from the boxes which are'slo-tted at 51 for this purpose.

The fingers 44 are also given a further rocking-movementabout the axis of the shaft 46, this being'effected -by pivotally connecting an arm 52 secured to the-shaft to-a link '53 itself controlled by a'cam 54 rotatable with the cylinder 50.

The arms "48 and link 53-are held to their respective cams by springs 55,156; the former operating on an .arm 51 fast with the arm 48 'while the spring 56 operates on an arm 58 pivoted at 59 to' the 'link53.

The timing of the: cams 49, 54 and their. conjoint operation is such that starting from the position shown injFigure' 7 in which the fingers 44 have already operated to flatten a signature and. to have. had a signature deposited on it; the fingers .are'drawn outof the box in substantially the plane of the signatures: when they are clear of the box they are rocked about the axis of the shaft 46 in a clockwisesense-soas to be in reach-- ness to return and when the return motion'commences the fingers arerocked in an anti-clockwise directionso folding down any turned-over partof the signatures now below the finger, the

next signature passing down on to the fingers whereupon the cycle of operations again commences.

Obviously the timing will be such that the fingers remain in the boxes 4 only while the boxes are at rest. Obviously also the setting of the fingers will depend upon the position of each box when the fingers enter into the slots, and also upon the thickness of the signatures being dealt with at any one time. For this reason adjustment of the fingers is provided by mounting them on the blocks 45 through packing pieces 66 which can be added to or subtracted from depending on requirements.

Reference will now be made to Figure 8 which illustrates the mechanism of this invention operating in conjunction with a packer-box type of delivery. It may be observed that the mechanism of this invention is capable of use alone but it frequently happens in practice that signatures which are'to be collated do not represent the maximum widthwise capacity of the printing machine and it is desirable to deliver certain copies of say one book (these copies being collated) and to employ the remaining capacity of the machine to print other signatures, these other signatures forming widthwise part of the stream.

For this purpose, there are provided additional strippers 6| and the two sets of strippers 3 and 6| (it being understood that a stripper 6| and a stripper 3 is provided for each signature width in the stream) are arranged to be adjusted so that either may be effective in stripping signatures from the cylinder I. When the strippers 6| are operative signatures are diverted into the path a of fly sticks 62 mounted on a shaft 63 which is oscillated through a link 64 actuated from some part of the machine. These fly sticks operate to displace the signatures from the strippers 6| to packer-boxes of which only one is shown at 65.

With this arrangement, the full capacity of the machine can be employed: i. e. of the stream of signatures passing from the machine all can be collated or some can be collated and others uncollated depending on the setting of the various strippers 3 and 6|.

It will now be obvious that the arrangement of this invention enables considerable labour and time to be saved since the signatures are automatically collated in the proper sequence and are delivered in collated bunches or batches and change for handling signatures of difierent sizes can readily and easily be made.

What I claim is:

1. For collating signatures of different sizes, apparatus comprising in combination means to deliver signatures continuously in side by side relationship and in a predetermined transverse page sequence, an endless conveyor comprising a series of receptacles for signatures, means adjustably connecting the receptacles to one another, means supporting the conveyor for movement across the delivery zone of the signatures, a reciprocable component, a driving member on said component, driven members on said endless conveyor, the driving member being freely movable past the driven members in one direction of movement of the said component and making driving engagement with a driven member in the other direction of movement, adjustable means to drive the reciprocable component through adjustable distances, a locking mechanism for said conveyor and means to render the locking mechanism operative in alternation with the driving member.

2. For collating signatures of different sizes, a collating mechanism comprising in combination signature receptacles, adjustable links connecting the receptacles to one another to form an endless series, a series of driven components associated with the linked receptacles, a driving component, means to reciprocate the driving component through adjustable distances, means to move the driving component into and out of engagement with a driven component, the said moving means being operated in synchronism with the said reciprocating means, a locking component, and means to move the locking component into and out of locking engagement with a driving member in alternation with the driving component;

3. For collating signatures of different sizes, apparatus comprising in combination signature receptacles, means linking the receptacles together to provide an endless receptacle conveyor, means to adjust the effective lengths of the links to vary the spacing of the receptacles, a driving slide, means to reciprocate the slide through adjustable distances, a driving component movably carried by the slide, a locking component, and means to move the driving component on the slide into and out of driving engagement with a driven component on the receptacle conveyor and at the same time to move the locking component into and out of locking engagement with a driven component in alternation with the driving component.

4. For collating signatures of diiferent sizes, apparatus comprising a printing machine delivery cylinder arranged to deliver a stream of signatures continuously in side by side relationship and in a predetermined transverse page sequence, an endless conveyor below and closely adjacent the delivery cylinder and moving in a path parallel with the cylinder axis, the conveyor having a succession of separate receptacles to receive signatures, means to direct the signatures from said cylinder into the receptacles, an endless guide track supporting the conveyor for movement across the delivery zone of the signatures, and means to advance the conveyor intermittently and in time with the delivery of the signatures, so that each receptacle will be stopped in alignment with a signature on the delivery cylinder in each operating cycle.

5-. For collating signatures of different sizes, apparatus comprising a printing machine delivery cylinder arranged to deliver a stream of signatures continuously in side by side relationship and in a predetermined transverse page sequence, an endless conveyor below and closely adjacent the delivery cylinder and moving in a path parallel with the cylinder axis, the conveyor having a succession of separate receptacles to receive signatures, means to direct the signatures from said cylinder into the receptacles, an endless guide track supporting the conveyor for movement across the delivery zone of the signatures, means to advance the conveyor intermittently and in time with the delivery of the signatures, so that each receptacle will be stopped in alignment with a signature on the delivery cyl-, inder in each operating cycle, means to adjust the extent of the intermittent advance of the conveyor, means to adjust the separation of the receptacles, and means to adjust the effective length of the said guide track.

6. For collating and collecting signatures. of difierent sizes, apparatus comprising a printing aaenmro machine delivery :cylinder' arranged to idelivera stream of signatures continuously in side by side relationship and.:in'a,;predetermined transverse page sequence, an vendless conveyor below and closely-adjacent the 'deliveryrcylinder and movingtina path parallel with the cylinder axis, the-conveyor having a successionof separate'receptaclestoreceive signatures, means to direct selected-signatures from said cylinder into the receptacles, and endlesszguide track supporting the conveyor for movement across the delivery zone of the-signaturesp-means to advance the conveyor intermittently and in time with the deliveryr'ofthe-signatures,- so that a receptacle will be stopped inral-ignment with each selected signature-0n thewdelivercylinder in each operating cyole,-a collecting mechanism independent of the collating mechanism-and-means to direct signatures other than the selected signatures, to the collecting. mechanism.

- THOMAS EWART PHYTHIAN.

REFERENCES CITED Ei'llhe followingreferences are of record in the fileof thispatent:

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:YUNTII'IIEIDiSfllATESiAIPATENTS Name 4 Date Averell July 25,1876 Wood Feb. 23,1886 Smyth -July 1, 1890 Dexter Aug. '24 1897 *Smyt-h July 23, 1901 CQttrell Jan; '13, 1903 Kent-ct al. Jan-30,1906 Winkly Apr. 2'5, 1916 Bombardie July 31 '1923 Coo-k May' 31 1932 "Starr Jan. 23, I934 ,Barennes -Apr.-30, 1 935 JFOREIGN PATENTS 1 Country Date Germany Jan. '24, 1920 Germany @Oct. 20, 1933 'Grea't Britain '*N0v:i4, 1915 

